John Wesley once offered Methodists financial advice that sounds surprisingly modern.
Gain all you can.
Save all you can.
Give all you can.
At first glance, the first two statements could come from a financial planning seminar.
Work hard.
Spend carefully.
Build resources.
But then Wesley gets to the third statement.
Give.
And suddenly we realize Wesley is not primarily teaching a strategy for becoming wealthy.
He is teaching Christians how to become holy.
For Wesley, money was a spiritual issue because money touches nearly every part of life. How we earn it, spend it, save it, and give it reveals something about what we love.
Jesus says:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21, NIV).
Wesley’s teaching on money is therefore about much more than budgeting.
It is about discipleship.
God’s grace reaches even into our wallets.
Money Is a Spiritual Matter
Christians sometimes become uncomfortable when the church talks about money.
We have good reasons for caution.
Churches can manipulate.
Preachers can exploit generosity.
Prosperity theology can distort the gospel into a promise that giving money will make us wealthy.
But avoiding the subject entirely does not solve the problem.
Jesus talked about possessions frequently because he understood the power they can exercise over the human heart.
Money can become security.
Money can become status.
Money can become identity.
Money can become power.
Money can become an idol.
Paul warns:
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10, NIV).
Notice that Paul does not say money itself is evil.
The danger lies in our relationship with it.
Money is a tool.
The question is what our hearts do with that tool.
Wesley’s Sermon “The Use of Money”
Wesley’s best-known teaching about stewardship appears in his sermon “The Use of Money.”
He understood money as something capable of doing considerable good when placed in faithful hands.
Money can feed people.
Money can clothe people.
Money can provide shelter.
Money can educate children.
Money can care for the sick.
Money can support the proclamation of the gospel.
Money can relieve suffering.
The problem, then, is not simply possessing resources.
The question is whether those resources possess us.
Wesley’s three rules provide a framework for Christian stewardship:
Gain all you can.
Save all you can.
Give all you can.
But each rule needs to be understood carefully.
Gain All You Can
Wesley did not believe there was anything inherently unspiritual about earning money.
Christians should work.
We should use our abilities.
We should be diligent.
We should exercise wisdom.
We should create things that are useful.
We should provide for ourselves and those entrusted to our care.
Paul writes:
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord” (Colossians 3:23, NIV).
So Wesley says, “Gain all you can.”
But he immediately places moral boundaries around earning.
We must not gain money at the expense of our life, health, soul, or neighbor.
That qualification changes everything.
Not Every Way of Making Money Is Faithful
For Wesley, profit never justified harm.
A Christian could not simply say, “It is legal, therefore it is moral.”
How we earn matters.
Do our business practices exploit people?
Do we deceive customers?
Do we manipulate employees?
Do we profit from another person’s weakness?
Does our work damage our health unnecessarily?
Does our career destroy our family relationships?
Does the product or service we provide harm our neighbors?
Do we become wealthy because someone else is being treated unjustly?
Wesley’s first General Rule applies directly to economics:
Do no harm.
Gain all you can, yes.
But never by treating people as expendable.
The neighbor is more valuable than the profit.
Work Can Be an Expression of Love
There is also a positive side to earning.
Faithful work can serve our neighbors.
A farmer produces food.
A builder creates shelter.
A teacher educates.
A physician heals.
A mechanic keeps vehicles safe.
A business owner provides goods, services, and employment.
An artist creates beauty.
An accountant helps people steward resources responsibly.
Our work can become part of our vocation.
When we use our abilities faithfully, earning itself can participate in love of neighbor.
The goal is not merely, “How much money can I make?”
A Wesleyan question goes deeper:
How can I use my gifts to create good without doing harm?
Save All You Can
Wesley’s second rule is easily misunderstood.
“Save all you can” does not simply mean accumulating the largest possible investment portfolio.
Wesley was talking about avoiding unnecessary spending.
Do not waste what God has entrusted to you.
That includes extravagant consumption, unnecessary luxury, and spending driven primarily by vanity or status.
This message may be even more challenging now than it was in Wesley’s century.
We live in an economy built largely around encouraging us to want more.
There is always an upgrade.
A newer model.
A better car.
A larger house.
A faster device.
A new trend.
And advertising is remarkably skilled at turning yesterday’s luxury into today’s necessity.
Wesley’s response would probably be inconvenient:
How much is enough?
Simplicity Creates Space for Generosity
Christian simplicity does not mean that enjoying good things is sinful.
Scripture describes creation as God’s gift.
Food can be enjoyed.
Homes can be beautiful.
Celebrations can be joyful.
Rest is good.
The issue is not enjoyment.
The issue is disordered desire.
When consumption becomes the purpose of earning, we enter an endless cycle.
Earn more.
Spend more.
Want more.
Upgrade more.
Then earn more so we can repeat the process.
Wesley offers another possibility.
Earn.
Live wisely.
Avoid unnecessary extravagance.
And discover that simplicity creates room for generosity.
Saving is not merely about keeping more for ourselves.
In Wesley’s framework, saving makes giving possible.
Then Wesley Makes It Uncomfortable
If Wesley had stopped after his first two rules, his financial advice would have been relatively easy to market.
Gain all you can.
Save all you can.
Excellent.
We could put that on a coffee mug.
Then comes the third rule:
Give all you can.
This is where Wesley’s teaching becomes distinctly Christian.
We do not earn and save simply so that we can accumulate.
God gives resources so that we can become channels of blessing.
Jesus tells his disciples:
“Freely you have received; freely give” (Matthew 10:8, NIV).
Grace creates generosity.
Giving Is More Than Tithing
Christians often ask, “How much am I supposed to give?”
It is an understandable question.
The biblical practice of tithing has given generations of believers a helpful framework for disciplined generosity.
But Wesley’s teaching pushes beyond calculating a minimum percentage.
His question is not simply:
How much must I give?
It is:
How much can I give?
Those are very different questions.
The first asks about obligation.
The second asks about love.
A tithe can become an important spiritual discipline, but generosity cannot finally be reduced to arithmetic.
For one person, ten percent may require genuine sacrifice.
For another, ten percent may leave an enormous amount available for luxury.
Wesley wants us to examine the heart.
Wesley Practiced What He Preached
Wesley’s own financial practices make his teaching especially challenging.
As his income from publications increased, he did not allow his personal spending to rise proportionately. He sought to maintain relatively modest personal expenses so that additional income could be given away.
This reflected a principle that guided his life.
When God gives us more, the automatic Christian response does not have to be:
Now I can consume more.
Perhaps it can be:
Now I can give more.
That challenges one of the assumptions of modern consumer culture.
We often allow our standard of living to rise alongside our income.
Wesley asks whether our standard of giving might rise instead.
We Are Stewards, Not Owners
Behind Wesley’s teaching is a biblical understanding of stewardship.
Everything ultimately belongs to God.
The psalmist declares:
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1, NIV).
Our lives belong to God.
Our abilities belong to God.
Our time belongs to God.
Our possessions belong to God.
Our money belongs to God.
We are stewards.
A steward manages something belonging to another.
That means the Christian question is not simply:
“What do I want to do with my money?”
It becomes:
“God, what do you want me to do with what you have entrusted to me?”
That is a much more disruptive prayer.
Generosity Is a Work of Mercy
Wesley’s theology also connects stewardship with works of mercy.
Methodists were called to feed the hungry, clothe those in need, visit prisoners, care for the sick, educate children, and respond to suffering.
Those ministries require resources.
Giving therefore becomes one way love takes material form.
James asks:
“Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2:15-16, NIV).
Christian love cannot remain merely sentimental.
Sometimes love looks like money for groceries.
A scholarship.
A medical bill.
A meal.
A ministry supported.
A missionary sent.
A family helped through a crisis.
A shelter funded.
A church equipped to serve its community.
Money becomes a means through which mercy moves toward another person.
Generosity Is Also a Means of Formation
Something happens to us when we give.
Our grip loosens.
Fear loses some of its power.
Greed is confronted.
Gratitude grows.
We learn that security does not ultimately come from our bank accounts.
We remember that our neighbor matters.
In this sense, generosity participates in sanctification.
God is not only interested in the gift.
God is forming the giver.
Thomas Oden’s presentation of Christian holiness in Classic Christianity reminds us that grace reshapes the whole human person. Wesleyan sanctification therefore cannot be limited to obviously religious behavior.
Grace reaches our economic lives too.
The Holy Spirit wants our hearts.
And our financial habits often reveal where our hearts are resisting.
Generosity Requires Wisdom
“Give all you can” does not mean “give without thinking.”
Christian generosity should be compassionate and wise.
Sometimes the most loving response is immediate assistance.
Sometimes people need long-term support.
Sometimes giving money directly may not be the most helpful response.
Sometimes generosity means investing in education, recovery, employment, housing, or sustainable development.
Sometimes we should give quietly to an individual.
Sometimes we should support organizations capable of addressing needs we cannot address ourselves.
Generosity does not require abandoning discernment.
Love seeks the genuine good of the neighbor.
Generosity Begins Before We Feel Wealthy
One of the easiest ways to postpone generosity is to tell ourselves we will become generous later.
When I earn more.
When the house is paid off.
When the children are grown.
When my finances are more comfortable.
When retirement is secure.
Then I will give.
The problem is that “enough” has a remarkable ability to move farther away every time we approach it.
Generosity is a habit.
And habits usually begin small.
Jesus praises a widow whose offering was financially tiny but spiritually profound because she gave from her poverty (Mark 12:41-44).
The kingdom measures generosity differently than spreadsheets do.
The question is not simply the size of the gift.
It is the posture of the heart.
What If Methodists Became Known for Generosity?
Imagine what could happen if Wesley’s teaching became normal Methodist practice again.
What if we earned all we could without harming ourselves or our neighbors?
What if Christian business owners became known for treating employees with dignity?
What if Christians resisted consumerism enough to live below their means?
What if every increase in income prompted us to consider increasing our generosity?
What if churches became known not for what they accumulated but for what they gave away?
What if Methodists funded ministries for children, the poor, prisoners, the sick, missionaries, church planting, theological education, disaster relief, and communities in need?
What if our bank statements reflected our theology of grace?
That kind of stewardship could become a powerful witness.
Grace Produces Open Hands
Ultimately, Christian generosity does not begin with Wesley’s three rules.
It begins with Jesus.
Paul writes:
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor” (2 Corinthians 8:9, NIV).
The gospel is a story of divine generosity.
God gives.
Christ gives himself.
The Spirit gives gifts.
Grace is poured out.
We are people who live because we have received what we could never purchase.
So Christians give not to earn God’s favor.
We give because God’s favor has already been given to us in Christ.
Generosity is gratitude made visible.
Earn, Save, Give, Love
Wesley’s three rules remain remarkably practical.
Gain all you can.
Work diligently. Use your gifts. Create good. Provide for those entrusted to your care. But never profit by harming your body, soul, or neighbor.
Save all you can.
Resist waste. Reject the endless demands of consumerism. Learn contentment. Live with simplicity.
Give all you can.
Feed people.
Support ministry.
Help neighbors.
Strengthen churches.
Serve the poor.
Advance the gospel.
Practice mercy.
And through it all, remember why.
We are not trying to become financially impressive Christians.
We are learning holy love.
The goal is not poverty for poverty’s sake.
The goal is freedom.
Freedom from greed.
Freedom from endless consumption.
Freedom from the illusion that possessions can save us.
Freedom to use everything God has placed into our hands for the purposes of God’s kingdom.
Earn all you can.
Save all you can.
Give all you can.
And let grace teach you to hold everything with open hands.
A Closing Prayer
Generous God,
Everything we have comes from you.
Teach us to receive your gifts with gratitude and steward them with wisdom.
Give us diligence in our work, integrity in our earning, discipline in our spending, wisdom in our saving, and joy in our giving.
Free us from greed, fear, comparison, and the endless desire for more.
Show us the needs of our neighbors. Give us compassionate hearts and open hands.
May the resources you entrust to us feed the hungry, strengthen your church, proclaim the gospel, care for the vulnerable, and participate in your work of mercy throughout the world.
And through our giving, continue your sanctifying work within us until we discover the freedom of a heart fully surrendered to you.
In the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
